Search

My Other Blog

My NYT Bestseller!

What's a Wreck?

A Cake Wreck is any cake that is unintentionally sad, silly, creepy, inappropriate - you name it. A Wreck is not necessarily a poorly-made cake; it's simply one I find funny, for any of a number of reasons. Anyone who has ever smeared frosting on a baked good has made a Wreck at one time or another, so I'm not here to vilify decorators: Cake Wrecks is just about finding the funny in unexpected, sugar-filled places.

Hello, my name is Joanna and my ex-boyfriend's name is Ernie. Although our birthdays are at opposite ends of the year and we haven't dated in about ten years (in fact, he's married and expecting his first child in three weeks), at least five people from our old circle have messaged me about this page. Too funny!

Now that I know the "or" is actually a botched ampersand, I'm finding its resemblance to "or" even funnier, because the ampersand sign comes from "et," the Latin word for "and." OK, maybe that's only funny for someone who's spent way too much time reading dead languages.

Even if they are supposed to be ampersands, why "Joanna, Ernie & Ernie & Joanna"? Are there two Joannas and two Ernies? And there is still the mystery of the extra amersand (or whatever it is) floating off to the right side.

I agree, "Joanna & Ernie or Ernie & Joanna" could be a joke about which name in a couple gets precedence. That may have been the intent. Which somehow got grossly misinterpreted, of course. I really don't think we can argue that SOME of those squiggles are ampersands and others, the word "or" -- especially when one of them is quite clearly a comma.

Hehehe! This is just too good. It took me a moment to find the far right side "or." That little bugger looks to be trying to escape the mess. I'm guessing the person who ordered the cake kept repeating the names to be on it and couldn't decide who'd get top billing, so the decorator did their best to comply. Like others have mentioned: At least there are sprinkles.

I'm pretty sure OR should be removed from this cake maker's vocabulary. Clearly s/he is confused about what it means, or at the very least, when to use it.

*******

Found you through the Weblog Awards. Congrats on kicking booTAY! (I read up on the controversy thing. I agree with you guys, I think maybe in a different category people would have responded better to the number of votes you received. ...Or probably not.)

Holy penmanship, Batman! --all this controversy!!Are those ampersands, or "or"s?"or"s or "87"s?I say, WHO CARES?!That cake is butt-ugly, and should only be served from the bottom of a deep, dark dumpster. At night. After borrowing blindfolds from that other cakewrecker (see previous cake)to hand out to the guests... Poor, poor, Jo and/or Ernie!!

I started developing microsoft word cake decorating software which includes spell check, if only I could have acted faster I could have saved this poor sap the pain of being crucified in front of such a large forum

Once upon a time I actually thought that people wouldn't be so stupid as to make mistakes like this. Since finding this site, I have discovered that I was very foolish to think that way...sad for humanity, but great for entertainment!

I'm going to say it's "or", based on an analysis of the other handwriting on the cake. Look at the "o" in "Joanna". It has that big loop on the top. And the "r" in "Ernie" resembles the form of the "r" in "or". I do think it says "or". Why, oh why, I don't know.

But even if it was a squiggle, an ampersand, an "87" or whatever, that would not explain the repetition of the names.

You'd be really surprised at how easy it is to make these kinds of mistakes. I was a cake decorator for nearly 6 years (a damn good one), and when you're stressed out and trying to read someone else's random scribbles on an order form, the brain does weird things. I once made a graduation cake and wrote exactly what was on the order form: "Cong Eric Class of '07." Silly me didn't even think that "Cong" could be short for "Congratulations." The customer was NOT amused, nor very understanding.